Biden gets his infrastructure win and an education on a new Washington

Final passage of a massive public works bill Friday provided President Joe Biden what had increasingly seemed like a vanishing ideal: A major, bipartisan accomplishment that has the power to improve the lives of millions of Americans.

The vote came after weeks of torturous negotiations among Democrats, and is likely to remain the only major piece of legislation Biden passes with help from Republicans ahead of next year's midterm elections. A second, larger bill that would expand the social safety net and provide historic investments in combating climate change remains undone.

Yet after a string of setbacks and delays -- including in the frenzied final hours before the bill passed -- Biden emerged having accomplished what many had written off as impossible in a political era marred by dysfunction and mistrust. The bill represents the largest single infrastructure investment in American history.